STORRS — As much as any opponent on the schedule each season, Villanova annually provides a very difficult mental challenge for the No. 3 UConn women's basketball team.

The Wildcats go into every game determined to dictate tempo by running defenders off one slip screen after another and utilizing as much of the 30-second shot clock as possible before launching a three.

And once the shot is in the air, they generally forsake offensive rebounds to sprint back on defense and make sure opponents don't get any easy transition baskets.

"It is really going to be a mental test," Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis said. "It was hard for me last year going to Villanova and getting screened that many times and having to remember how I am supposed to play this screen and who is a shooter and who is not. It is going to be tough. Coach told us that this is going to be a good test for our team to see where we are mentally and see how patient we can be."

At the same time, however, the Villanova game can be a 3-point shooter's delight.

The Wildcats take nearly half of their field goal attempts — 470 of 1,054, or 44.6 percent of their shots — from behind the 3-point arc.

Most teams don't have enough 3-point shooters or the discipline to work as hard for their threes, so rather than try to match Villanova from long-range they attempt to pound the ball inside against their relatively small lineup.

Tonight's game against the surprise of the Big East — Villanova is 16-3 overall, 5-1 in the Big East and ranked 25th in the coaches' poll — provides a unique opportunity for the Huskies.

They clearly have an advantage inside with Stefanie Dolson so they can work on their offensive post game, but they also have a plethora of 3-point shooters that can match up favorably against Villanova's sharpshooters.

If Kelly Faris makes two 3-pointers tonight, this year's UConn team can become the first in the history of the program to have four players with 100 or more treys in a career. Caroline Doty has 132, Mosqueda-Lewis has 149 and Bria Hartley 152.

Auriemma said it is probably one of best 3-point shooting teams he has ever had, not just because the Huskies average 8.8 made threes per game (5th in the country,) but because they have so many players who shoot the deep ball well.

"It's rare that you have five starters that can all feel comfortable taking that shot and make those shots," Auriemma said. "It might happen if you have five guards on the floor. But the fact the (Breanna Stewart) can and Stefanie can and Morgan (Tuck) can to a certain extent, that's usual for us."

The Huskies have five players who had made at least 18 threes this season, led by Mosqueda-Lewis who has not only made 56 but is shooting 49.1 percent from long range. Faris is second on the team with 28, and is shooting 44.4 percent.

"We are very confident," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "Shea tells us it is not enough to just get them in practice so we have been trying to get more shots up outside. So it is really second nature for us to come out and shoot the three. It is as good as a layup to us, and Coach tells us that if you are in transition you either want a three or a layup. They are both the same to him."

The Huskies average 24 3-point attempts per game, but they can do that because they are shooting 36.8 percent from long range (12th nationally).

"I actually haven't been on a team that has this much diversity on it," Mosqueda-Lewis said. "I think just so many of the players on our team have developed their three-point game. I think when you have this many players who can hit a three, it just makes us that much more unstoppable."

Villanova is averaging 7.6 made threes per game led by Rachel Roberts who has made 32 this season and Lauren Burford who had made 30. The Wildcats have six players who have made 10 or more.

That doesn't mean the Huskies want to try to match Villanova 3-pointer for 3-pointer. Their intent is to get the ball inside to Dolson, Stewart and Tuck and then take 3-pointers in the normal flow of the offense either when the Wildcats collapse on the post players, or in transition.

This year the Huskies have taken 37.6 percent of their shots (457-for-1,216) from 3-point range, and Auriemma is very comfortable with that as he wants one-third of the team's shots to be threes. The Villanova game offers the Huskies a great chance to work on their patience and balance.

"Obviously we are getting a lot of shots up," Faris said. "It is good, and it is bad. It is good that we have so many options and that we are confident to take those shots from the outside. But at the same time there has to be a balance. We have to get it inside and outside.

"We have seen how it can hurt us in the past if we only have one way that we are going to score, then in the end it is really going to hurt us, and we are going to lose because of it."

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